62 THE FREEDMEN’S SAVINGS BANK
removed, and a Negro put in his place. The latter
discovered that Cory had embezzled about
$10,000 of the deposits, and had him prosecuted
in the state courts of Georgia, where he was
sentenced to four years in prison—the only
accused person connected with the Freedmen’s
Bank who was ever punished. Cory finally made
a compromise: The prosecution was to allow him
to be pardoned in order to accept an appointment
 as Indian agent out West, and from the
proceeds of this office he promised to repay what
he had stolen. Hamilton, the Lexington embezzler,
 was also allowed to accept an Indian
agency." The headquarters officials testified in
later years that when attempts were made to
punish defaulting cashiers it was difficult to
secure a conviction in the local courts.
The cashiers taken over from the Freedmen’s
Bureau gave more than a fair proportion of the
trouble. The two in Alabama were typical. At
Mobile the cashier, C. A. Woodward, was
charged with appropriating to his own use $3,375
which, he stated, the Freedmen’s Bureau owed
to him. At Montgomery, Edwin Beecher, the
cashier, made investments, contrary to regulations,
 of about $20,000 in securities that proved
to be valueless, and for several years afterwards
carried a shortage of $18,000 on his books. Finally
 the headquarters authorities secured a bond
from him and sold him the business, but he
failed and the amount of the bond was not
collected.
The Beaufort branch was on a peculiar basis,
Douglas Report, pp. 2, 4, 25, 71, 77, 78, 260; Bruce Report, p. 31.